“Don’t just look to our country only. See our neighbours or other countries. They too have laws more or less like ours or more stricter [sic].” Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, commenting on the need to retain the Internal Security Act (ISA), to “ensure economic and political stability”. He suggested that the Act [...]

SPEAKING at the Muslim Students Leadership Convention on 26 July 2009, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he wanted “to see student leaders with dynamic and healthy minds in terms of airing views and opinions”. “I just hope that you can uphold the principle of intellectual honesty in assessing and scrutinising certain issues which [...]

THE somewhat otherworldly 42-year-old performer Lee Swee Keong is perhaps best known for his white-faced and loin-clothed interpretations of Butoh, a Japanese dance form developed in the 1960s. Created by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in 1959, this vocabulary of movement, which typically involves mischievous or grotesque imagery, was intended to question and subvert more [...]

“Gerakan Youth is of the opinion that struggles of organisations such as Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) should be considered seriously for the sake of justice and recognition of human rights principles enshrined in the federal constitution.” ANDY Yong, Gerakan Youth’s legal, public complaints and social welfare bureau chief, declaring the party youth wing’s interest in [...]

THE 1 Aug 2009 anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) street rally attracted big crowds scattered around the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The throng of people easily numbered 20,000 but could have been more. Demonstrators sported headbands, T-shirts and banners that decried the draconian law. They called for the Act, which allows for indefinite state detention without [...]

Vandalised sign in Kuala Lumpur warning readers against becoming the next snatch theft victim (© Kubhaer Jethwani / Flickr) ONE night in April 2009, Hazwan Haili was out for drinks with friends in the Masjid India area of downtown Kuala Lumpur. “As I was walking back to my car I was rushed by two guys [...]