WHO would think that young people, some only in their late teens, would be interested in history? Specifically Malaysian history, which, as I knew while surviving the Malaysian education system, was dry and boring. My school history lessons definitely did not inspire or engage me. The syllabus did little to help me feel connected to […]
Search Results for: Holding Court
Press freedom needs level playing field
By Gayathry VenkiteswaranTHANKS to Utusan Malaysia, discussions about press freedom in Malaysia have revived after a lull since the 8 March 2008 elections, when some vague commitments were made by the home ministry to review the licensing provision in the Printing Presses and Publications Act. The Utusan affair, particularly with regard to the defamation suit filed by […]
Confronting road safety issues head-on
By Andrew KhooSomewhere 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…
Choosing the prime minister
By Jacqueline Ann Surin and N Shashi KalaEVEN as opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stumbled in his quest to unseat the government by 16 Sept 2008, the likelihood of a change in government lingers palpably. Questions now abound about how exactly Anwar can achieve forming the next government. Some legal experts have said a vote of no-confidence in Parliament against the […]
Changing the government
By Wong Chin Huat(© Timur Druzhynin / 123rf) SO, it did not happen on 16 Sept. But that does not alter the conclusion: regime change is only a question of when and how, and not whether it will happen. After the ISA arrests of blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, journalist Tan Hoon Cheng and parliamentarian Teresa Kok — the […]
To jump or not to jump?
By Tricia YeohDon’t voters have a say if MPs jump from one party to another? AS 16 Sept 2008 looms ever nearer, this seems to be the main question on all minds: will the current government be toppled? Investors, business managers, civil society, politicians, and Malaysians at large are understandably concerned over the increasingly tense political situation […]
Police did not force Sirul to show jewellery, says prosecution in the Altantuya case
SHAH ALAM, 4 Sept 2008: The prosecution in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case told the High Court today the police never forced Cpl Sirul Azhar Umar to show the jewellery belonging to the Mongolian woman at his house. Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah said Sirul showed the jewellery voluntarily and had control […]
Sexual wrongs and rights
By Alina RastamOF the plethora of absurd and disturbing events that have marred the political landscape this year, one of the most significant must surely be the charge of sodomy levelled against politician Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — again. In a surreal replay of the events of 1998, when then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused him […]
Swearing should take place after legal process, says National Fatwa Council
KUALA TERENGGANU, 26 Aug 2008: The National Fatwa Council is of the opinion that Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan should have sworn the Islamic way that he was sodomised by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim only after the legal process had taken place. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr […]
Permatang Pauh: A second tsunami?
Translation by Fahmi FadzilBY far the most widely covered issue in the main Malay dailies between 16 and 22 Aug 2008 was the Permatang Pauh by-election campaigns. In a Sinar Harian report titled Permatang Pauh: Tsunami Kedua Umno on 18 Aug, Ishak Hamzah observed that the timing of the by-election could not have been worse for the Barisan […]
