Susan Carland “IF you publish this, and I get kicked out of the country, I know who to thank,” says Susan Carland towards to the end of our interview. There is a reason for Australian Carland, who was recently in Malaysia, to be cautious. Speaking up as an outsider about Islam in Malaysia has its […]
Wooing the Indian Malaysian vote
By Deborah LohHindraf vigil on 27 Sept 2008 ON 25 Nov 2007, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) burst into public consciousness through a mammoth street rally. Few doubt that Hindraf was pivotal in swinging Indian Malaysian votes away from the Barisan Nasional (BN) three months later in the March 2008 general election. On 2 July 2009, […]
Who’s afraid of sodomy?
By Farish NoorMASS hypocrisy season comes and goes in Malaysia with the regularity of the monsoon or the haze. While we entertain the polite fiction of being a semi-civilised nation with a few shopping malls, we conveniently forget that ours is a political culture mired in the mores and norms of hypocrisy. The public display of normative […]
The continuing migrant story
By Deborah LohKATHY Rowland gets asked a lot about where she’s from. It wouldn’t be an issue but for the fact that she is Malaysian, has a Caucasian surname and doesn’t look white. And so in racially-defined Malaysia, with its obsession for categories, Rowland is the odd “dan lain-lain”. The Petaling Jaya native is co-founder and managing […]
Mencapai kuota 30% wanita
Oleh Suraya YaacobWanita Umno di pilihanraya Umno SAYA melalui pemilihan Umno yang lepas dengan baik. Alhamdulilah saya mendapat sokongan dari perwakilan Wanita bahagian-bahagian seluruh Malaysia. Tercedera? Pastinya. Ini baru pemilihan di dalam Wanita Umno. Di peringkat yang lebih tinggi, Majlis Tertinggi Umno, hanya seorang wanita yang berjaya. Kalau begini, macam mana negara hendak mencapai sasaran kuota 30% […]
Civil servants and the art of silence
By Deborah LohINCREDULOUS. That’s how a journalist feels when a senior civil servant responds to a request for information with a flat refusal to answer. Following the commentary on the need for a Freedom of Information Act, it is timely to relate another story about failed attempts to get answers on matters of public interest from the […]
Silence is rotten
By Yasmin MasidiLittle 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 […]
My ideal politician
By Dr Farish A NoorTHE historian’s lament is that he or she is often witness to mistakes of the past, and yet is unable to prevent them from recurring. In the end, the historian is cursed with the Cassandra complex and accused of being a tiresome doomsayer. At the risk of being black-balled from dinner parties, I would like […]
Who’s afraid of Indonesian maids?
By Yow Hong ChiehChua Soi Lek questions the impact of giving a day off to domestic helpers MAIDS are people too. But you would not think so judging from the shockingly negative response from employers of domestic helpers to government legislation making one day of leave per week mandatory. Opposition to this law has laid bare the knee-jerk […]
What would Toni say?
By Jacqueline Ann SurinToni Kasim in Turkey, November 2007 (© Julian Lee) “WHAT would Toni say?” It’s a question I’ve asked myself quite frequently in recent times, especially with the constant and new challenges one faces in running an office and being an online journalist. “What would Toni say”, I guess, is my version of Christians who use […]
