THIS month has been a particularly significant one for The Nut Graph team. It is not only Ramadan and the month of Merdeka. It also marks our two-year anniversary and the month when we transform our operations into Plan B. While there’s constantly new beginnings to look forward to, these moments give us pause to […]
Archives for August 2010
Stocktaking Malaysia
By Deborah Loh
LAST year, the Merdeka Day spirit was dampened by the actions of the Shah Alam residents who used a severed cow head to protest the relocation of a Hindu temple to their largely Muslim neighbourhood. This year, the run-up to Merdeka saw a school head in Kulaijaya, Johor, who, besides other slurs, told her charges […]
Student activism: The struggle continues
By Gan Pei Ling
(Corrected at 6:15pm, 4 Sept 2010) THE student movement in Malaysia was once vibrant, independent and autonomous. “Mahasiswa jurubicara rakyat” was the students’ motto in the 1960s. However, the government enacted the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) in 1971 to restrict students’ freedom and their rising influence. Thereafter, the student movement suffered a decline. […]
Patrick Teoh: A still-unfulfilled Merdeka wish
By Ding Jo-Ann
WHEN Malaysians hear the name Patrick Teoh, it’s a voice, and not a face, that springs to mind. Teoh had no inkling when he landed his first radio job at Redifussion 45 years ago that he would go on to become one of Malaysia’s most recognisable voices. “People do say sometimes, ‘Patrick, your voice is […]
Being of Malaysian blood
By Deborah Loh
IN conjunction with Merdeka Day on 31 Aug and Malaysia Day on 16 Sept, BFM 89.9 is currently featuring a series of interviews called Bloodlines with prominent personalities about their ancestral heritage and their Malaysian identity. These conversations are with Malaysians The Nut Graph has interviewed for its Found in Malaysia series. These individuals are […]
Seditious Malaysia
By Ding Jo-Ann
KARPAL Singh. Lim Guan Eng. Raja Petra Kamaruddin. Wong Chin Huat. These individuals have all been arrested or charged under Malaysia’s draconian Sedition Act. The Act was passed in 1948, at the height of the British colonial government’s struggle against the communists. But more than 60 years later, the wide-ranging and subjective law is still being used, whenever it’s convenient, to silence political opponents.
Talking about retrenchment
Holding Court by Ding Jo-Ann
S K WIGNESWARY was an executive at an established media organisation for more than nine years. One Monday, she went to work as usual. By that evening, she was out of a job. “The department head made an announcement at about 4pm that a list of names would be called out and our services would […]
Suhakam chief: “We’re an independent entity”
By Gan Pei Ling
TAN Sri Hasmy Agam was appointed the new Suhakam chief in June 2010. Previously, he was executive chairperson of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR), and secretary-general of the United Nations Association of Malaysia. “I’m conscious of the fact that I’m no longer a civil servant. Now that I’m the chair[person] of Suhakam, […]
Who to trust in Selangor water battle?
By Deborah Loh
ALARM bells were rung recently about an impending water crisis in Selangor. The federal government blames the state government for delaying the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project by refusing to let building of the Langat 2 water treatment plant begin. The Barisan Nasional (BN) government says this will result in a water crisis as early […]
Peddling fear and distrust, Harussani-style
By Deborah LohHOW reliable is the recent claim by Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria that a political party was drafting a new constitution threatening the special position of Malay Malaysians? In 2006, he had also spread unfounded allegations that Muslims had been converted and were to be baptised.
