(Pic by Elvinstar / Dreamstime) HERE we are, just past the cusp of 2010, when parts of the world that observe 1 Jan list New Year hopes both fanciful and pragmatic. It’s always a useful exercise to do both, and to think about just why it is that one writes off a wish as “unrealistic”. [...]

(Festive image by ba1969 / sxc.hu) THE build-up to Malaysia’s 46th birthday began this year, for me, with an argument between two acquaintances. A West Malaysian acquaintance said the prevailing notion that Malaysia is 52 years old, versus its actual birth in 1963, is a matter of interpretation. An East Malaysian acquaintance angrily pointed out [...]

Little Red Riding Hood; the folktale now commonly ends with a woodsman saving her, as opposed to earlier versions which include her escaping via her own cunning (public domain/wikipedia) I HAVE little affection for fairy tales, especially with regards to the moral lessons they purportedly teach. What I got from the stories I read as [...]

AS I am writing this, the Perak state government is collapsing from the resignations of a crucial number of assemblypersons. By the time this column is published, we would have found out whether the state legislature is dissolved by the consent of the Sultan of Perak, and whether snap elections are called. I will not [...]