Portrait of Henry VIII (public domain, Wiki Commons) TO understand the origins of Malaysia’s sodomy laws, a short trip down British history is required. Henry VIII (1491-1547), the most handsome man in all of Christendom, tried for some years to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. A spectacular and violent [...]

BILA saya berumur tujuh tahun, ibu kepada rakan sekelas saya amat terhibur mendengar saya berceloteh dalam bahasa Hokkien dengan anaknya. “Kamu ini orang (bangsa) apa?” dia bertanya dalam bahasa Hokkien. “Saya ini orang putih (Inggeris),” saya menjawab. Dia tertawa terbahak-bahak. Tapi saya serius! Benar, saya boleh berbahasa Malaysia dan Hokkien, tetapi saya bertutur dengan ibu [...]

THEY’RE colonial relics, they’re rarely invoked, and other Asian countries have effectively taken them off the books. But because Malaysia’s sodomy laws are tangled up in politics and religion, they’re probably not going anywhere for a while. In 2007, Singapore modified their sodomy laws, expressed in Section 377a of the island-state’s Penal Code, to exclude [...]

MALAYSIAN identity is a central concept in Marion D’Cruz‘s life work. She’s a founding member of the Five Arts Centre, which has played a key role in developing boundary-pushing Malaysian local theatre. Her works of choreography often have political themes, such as 2003′s War on Iraq. And as a teacher at colleges and universities around [...]

NEW DELHI, 29 May 2009: In another case of domestic violence, a man tried to kill his wife by battering her with a hammer and throwing her out of his first-floor residence for serving bad chapati. Sanjay Singh, who works as a photographer in eastern Delhi, was reported to have returned home for lunch yesterday [...]

NEW DELHI, 13 May 2009: A young trader was detained after he was alleged to have hammered a nail into his pregnant wife’s head in what police suspect could be a dowry-related crime. The incident happened in Hisar in the northern state of Rajasthan, where Joginder Singh, 27, along with his mother, had been harassing [...]