Advent is represented by lighting four candles, before a fifth is lit on Christmas day (© Traute Klasser / sxc.hu) CHRISTMAS is celebration. Shopping. Decorations. Parties. Carols. But very few of us are aware that in the Christian calendar there are four Sundays that build up to the climax of Christmas day. These Sundays are […]
Columns
The fundamentals of Christmas
By Kathy Rowland(© Wong Mei Teng / sxc.hu)THERE were a couple of Christmases, as a teenager, when my family did not put up a Christmas tree. I’d like to claim that we were opting out of the crass commercialism of garish ornaments and plastic trees. The truth, however, stood a little more to the right of such […]
An orthodox Christmas
By Rahel JosephSyrian Orthodox icon GROWING up, I always used to dread explaining to people which religious faith I belonged to. The questions were typical. “You’re a Christian? So you’re not Indian.” As if to imply one could not be both. “Are you Catholic or Christian?” All Catholics are Christians, though all Christians are not always Catholics. […]
Wanita belum memimpin
Oleh Rohana ArifinWANITA telah berkecimpung dalam parti politik sejak 1940an lagi, termasuklah dalam Persatuan Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), Umno, dan juga Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM). Sumbangan mereka dalam parti-parti politik ini adalah aktif walaupun bilangan mereka amat kurang berbanding ahli lelaki, kecuali dalam Umno. Dalam tahun-tahun 1950an, MIC, MCA, PRM — iaitu Parti Rakyat Malaya, yang berasal-usul […]
Peace
By Andrew KhooMOST would define “peace” as “the absence of war”. Indeed it was the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy who wrote the epic novel War and Peace, contrasting one against the other. Two years ago, I received a Christmas card with a tearaway section that could be used as a bookmark long after you’d chucked away the […]
Mandatory testing flawed
By Shanon Shah1,000 crosses put up by World Concern, USA, in support of World AIDS Day (© Andrew Conn / sxc.hu) STARTING from 2009, Muslim couples intending to marry must undergo mandatory screening for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). We don’t know how this became official, but it now is, with the cabinet’s approval. Deputy Prime Minister […]
Teaching in English: Do or don’t
By Deborah Loh(© Dan O’Connell / sxc.hu) THE English for Teaching Mathematics and Science (ETeMS) policy has become more than just about its effectiveness. It has been politicised to the extent that all kinds of claims have been thrown into the mix. These include threats to national unity and the position of Bahasa Malaysia (BM), to the […]
The power of Proton
By Jacqueline Ann SurinA Proton Perdana V6 (source: wikipedia.org) THE Perak state government has come under fire ever since it announced it was going to replace its fleet of Proton Perdana V6 Executives with the Toyota Camry 2.4. Apparently, this is unpatriotic. Perak is not the only Pakatan Rakyat-led government that has been criticised for wanting to switch […]
Rakyat Malaysia poyo?
Oleh Fared Ayam dan Zahiril Adzim“KENAPA” — satu perkataan yang paling kami kagumi. Kami percaya bahawa segala apa yang berlaku atau ingin dilakukan harus dikaitkan dengan “kenapa”. Kenapa harus ada kenapa? Cuba perhatikan, perkataan yang sama boleh digunakan dua kali di dalam satu ayat. Menarik bukan? Graf menunjukkan kadar Kebenaran dan kesempurnaan dengan soalan Kenapa? “Kenapa”, pada pendapat kami, merupakan […]
‘Tis the season
By Cindy ThamSee also: The fundamentals of Christmas An orthodox Christmas Reinterpreting Christmas Cindy Tham is all for e-cards although Chak of Foldees has a different view. Next article: Interview with Chak, founder of the portal for printed designer greeting cards.
