William Halsall, Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor (1882). In 1620, the Mayflower brought Separatists from England to the New World – what would eventually be known as the United States (Public domain) MY recent trip to the US was to primarily observe their historic presidential election, but it triggered a deeper question about what a nation […]
Columns
You don’t mess with the Dewan!
By Zedeck Siew(© Leaf / Dreamstime) ONE early morning two weeks ago, a group of 15 citizens from a Petaling Jaya constituency filed into a chartered bus. They carried blazers and jackets in varying states of crinkled-ness. Almost all were more alert than any amount of coffee could explain. James, an electrician by profession, had a digital […]
The perils of social action
By Sim Kwang YangParticipants of the candlelight vigil commemorating the first anniversary of the 2007 Bersih rally I WAS surprised by the brute force used by the police when dispersing the 9 Nov 2008 candlelight vigil organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih). They arrested 23 participants, including a Member of Parliament, a state assemblyperson, […]
Racist pride and prejudice
By Hafidz BaharomTHE transvestites involved in the Bachok beauty pageant have finally been sentenced in the Kelantan Syariah Court. One of them, a teacher, was not only found guilty for dressing as a woman, but was transferred from his job posting. It was bad enough that he had to pay a RM1,000 bond to the Kelantan Syariah […]
Fatwa boleh dicabar
Oleh Shanon ShahAhli-ahli Katagender memprotes fatwa anti-pengkid pada 7 Nov 2008 (Gambar oleh Lainie Yeoh) JANGAN cabar fatwa. Itulah arahan yang dikeluarkan oleh Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, tanggal 10 Nov 2008. Menurut laporan Utusan Malaysia, arahan tersebut dikhususkan kepada pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) bukan Islam, Katagender dan Food-not-Bombs, yang berdemonstrasi […]
The roads we take
By Andrew Khoo(© Michal Zacharzewski / sxc.hu) WILLIAM Shakespeare once wrote: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” If only this were true of roads as well. Two weeks ago there was a reference in this column to Jalan Esfahan in Kuala Lumpur. This road was originally Jalan Selat. But in 1998, it was […]
W for water
By Amir MuhammadThe quality of water is not strain’dIt droppeth as the gentle mercy falls from heaven. Amir Muhammad is a writer, publisher and moviemaker who lives in Damansara, which is more of a state of mind than geography. Amir’s Alphabet will have 26 parts but will not be presented in order, as he was never a […]
Helping the Malay poor
By Michael Jeyakumar DevarajON 11 Nov 2008, the Prime Minister’s Department answered a question about income distribution that I had submitted before the start of the current parliamentary session. The reply was read by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany, who gave the following figures based on a 2007 Statistics Department survey of households: The […]
Fear
By KW MakSupporter wearing a “Free RPK” t-shirt. THE arrest of 23 people who participated in a peaceful candlelight vigil on the night of 9 Nov 2008 in Petaling Jaya has resulted in uproar and indignation. The vigil was meant to protest against the Internal Security Act (ISA) and to commemorate the first anniversary of the Bersih […]
Arming our writers
By Kathy Rowland(© Agata Urbaniak / sxc.hu) ONE of the unexpected outcomes of the recent presidential election campaign in the US has been a sharp rise in gun sales. Demand for firearms and other related paraphernalia went up by 15% in October. There is a fear that president-elect Barack Obama will institute gun controls when he assumes […]
