ON 11 Aug 2010, the cabinet reiterated its decision that students are not allowed to be involved in political parties. However, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the education minister, said this should not prevent students from discussing politics and current affairs. Citing the speaker’s corner in some universities, Muhyiddin said […]
Exclusives
The long wait to be Malaysian: The foreign spouse experience
By Deborah Loh
BINA Ramanand and Asha Lim are just two among what is believed to be many more with a predicament because they live in Malaysia. They are foreign spouses married to Malaysians who have waited years and in some cases, decades, for their permanent residency (PR) applications to be approved. As of June 2010, the Home […]
Money politics vs public interest
By Ding Jo-Ann
POLITICAL parties legitimately need money to carry out their functions in a democracy. After all, to stand any chance of being elected, candidates will need to tell voters who they are and what they stand for. All this costs money. Even after a representative is elected, money is still needed to do a politician’s work. […]
Education and the agenda of political parties
By Deborah Loh
THE year 2010 is the year of creativity and innovation for Malaysia. And yet, a common lament when discussing the country’s state of affairs or the quality of education is that we lack in precisely these areas. What, then, of the government’s plans to make Malaysia a high-income nation? Where do we even begin in […]
Making UM the best again
By Deborah Loh
YESTERDAY, Universiti Malaya (UM) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon talked about what public higher education needs to do in the larger national agenda of making Malaysia a high-income nation. In the final installment of a two-part interview with The Nut Graph, Ghauth talks about the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) he has instituted since his […]
Autonomy in UM
By Deborah Loh
UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM) has made a comeback by climbing 50 spots to be ranked 180 in the 2009 Times Higher Education – QS World University Rankings under vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon. What does this academician, responsible for restoring UM’s reputation, have to say about university autonomy, the state of Malaysia’s higher education system, […]
What happens under ISA detention
By Gan Pei Ling
PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak promised to review the ISA when he came into office in April 2009. But the government continues to defend the need for detention without trial in the interest of “national security”. In the meantime, those who have been detained under the ISA tell stories of state abuse of power and torture.
In this second of a series of interviews with former ISA detainees, The Nut Graph speaks with Mat Sah Mohd Satray and his wife, Norlaila Othman, about his arrest and detention under the ISA in April 2002.
“Memang kami kena guna kekerasan”
By Shanon Shah
ROS, 23, is a transsexual woman from Seremban who says she was assaulted by Negeri Sembilan Islamic enforcers on 31 May 2010. The part-time wedding hairdresser spoke to The Nut Graph in this exclusive phone interview about her experience later that same day. She said she was required to appear in the syariah court on 3 June.
Kartika’s protest
By Jacqueline Ann Surin
ONE thing is really clear about Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor in the video Mencari Kartika, produced and directed by Norhayati Kaprawi: Kartika, who was sentenced to be whipped, fined and imprisoned for drinking beer because she was a Muslim, was angry at the syariah system that had sentenced her. It is a startling revelation, because […]
“Diam, pondan!”
By Shanon Shah
IN Part Three of The Nut Graph’s series of interviews with victims of state-appointed moral police, we speak to a transsexual who works in Seremban, who says she was assaulted by Negeri Sembilan Islamic religious enforcers in March 2010.
