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THE saying goes that there’s money to be made from rubbish — about RM52 million a year, for removing waste from residents’ homes in Petaling Jaya. On the surface, the waste-management system is simple. Contractors move around collecting waste from urban areas and transport it to a landfill, far away from city folks. Once it […]

THIS is the message that greets you when you visit Dentyne’s website. It is part of the chewing gum company’s latest ad campaign called Make Face Time. While the ad campaign is in the US, the message may be relevant to any country where people spend a lot of time online. Conditions like internet addiction […]

First Conference of Rulers in Kuala Kangsar, 1897 (Public domain) LAST week, the Conference of Rulers issued a much-publicised statement. The statement reiterated the special position of the Malay rulers, Islam, the Malay language, and the genuine interests of other communities as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The rulers reminded Malaysians that it is not […]

Najib Razak (Public domain)DATUK Seri Najib Razak said it most aptly: the Barisan Nasional (BN) has to change, or it will be changed. Every component party in the coalition knows it only too well. Except for one. Umno itself. Umno does not need to overhaul its election machinery, media apparatus or selection of candidates. The […]

WATCHING the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica the other day, I got hooked on what the Cylon rebels and Dr Baltar were up to. This got me thinking about the impact science-fiction series and books have had on our lives. A lot of stuff we take for granted made their appearances first in science-fiction books, […]

WHAT’S the difference between a book and a politician? This was a question posed to me recently by a close friend after having one too many beers. Somehow, the mind gets more creative when it’s intoxicated. Well, I said the first major difference was that I find books interesting to read. From Bill Maher’s New […]

SEORANG pengkarya mempunyai kuasa untuk menghidupkan atau mematikan watak-watak tertentu. Kadang-kadang, dia mungkin gila kuasa sikit apabila berkarya. Mungkin dia menyimpan dendam terhadap cikgu sekolah rendah yang merotannya sampai punggungnya lebam. Tiba-tiba muncullah satu cerpen, atau drama televisyen, di mana watak seorang guru yang bengis tiba-tiba mati dihempap lori balak. Para penonton pasti puas hati, […]

Somewhere in the archives of Filem Negara Malaysia is a short road-safety film. It features a policeman from the 1950s or perhaps early 1960s, in his knee-length shorts (khaki-coloured, but the film is in black and white). The policeman crosses a road in front of bicyclists who have stopped at a traffic light. As he passes them, he taps his truncheon on the front wheel of those bicycles that have crossed the white line on the road. He indicates for them to back up behind the white line. Indeed, in the film, bicyclists have to dismount at the traffic light. I think Datuk Suret Singh of the Road Safety Department should ask Filem Negara Malaysia for this gem of a road-safety message and play it on TV again…

Corrected on 20 Oct 2008 at 10pm PALM Spring @ Damansara in Petaling Jaya is a nice little condominium with some 2,180 condo units. With each unit paying between RM150 and RM200 per month in maintenance fees, the annual collection comes up to around RM4 million. This example is meant to illustrate the potential gold […]

Hair in my heart.That’s where you’ll be, you’ll be with me.Hair in my heart.No distance can keep us apart.Long as you’re hair in my heart. Amir Muhammad is a writer, publisher and movie-maker who lives in Damansara, which is more of a state of mind than geography. Amir’s Alphabet will have 26 parts but will […]