WALKING around Bangsar one balmy night six years ago, I bumped into filmmaker Amir Muhammad and film academic Khoo Gaik Cheng sitting with a rather foppish Mat Salleh man. It took less than an hour of my being introduced before all of us banded together to bully the hapless Australian Mat Salleh to prove that [...]

BANGI, 28 July 2010: The idealised images of Malaysian unity portrayed in Petronas‘s Merdeka ads is constructed, rather than a reflection of reality, a media and communications researcher said. Andrew Loo, who completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne on nationalism and ethnicity in the Malaysian media, said these ads always portrayed characters of [...]

NO, The Nut Graph did not forget that 16 Sept is Malaysia’s real birthday, and that in 2009, Malaysia turns 46, not 52. Discussions on 16 Sept seem less passionate and visible this year, unlike last year when the date was also the subject of a much-hyped takeover of the federal government by the Pakatan [...]

MALAYSIA’S 52nd anniversary of independence is upon us. 2009 has thus far already been tumultuous for our nation, with political infighting, rising criminality, mysterious deaths in custody, delayed whippings, and by-elections galore. We’ve also seen crowds running in the face of teargas canisters. State assemblypersons under a tree, in full regalia. Clandestine camera phone stills [...]

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 [...]

(Source: facebook.com)TO people who spend lots of time on Facebook, Friendster, Twitter or other social networking websites, their accounts have become important repositories of part of their lives and memories. To them, Facebook or Friendster accounts are like online scrapbooks. They contain records of conversations with friends, and all the “LOLROTF”s and “T_T”s along the [...]