Are vernacular schools standing in the way of national unity? (© Sigurd Decroos / sxc.hu) AGAIN, the issue of abolishing vernacular schools in favour of a single stream system has been raised. As before, the argument is that this will inculcate national unity. Single stream advocates say the only way the different races can learn […]
Deborah Loh
Perak’s tarnished state
By Deborah LohSAME circus, different act. The dramatic highlight of the Perak legislative assembly sitting on 7 May 2009 was the violent removal of Speaker V Sivakumar by police officers. The highlight of Wednesday’s 28 Oct sitting was the simultaneous running of two separate assemblies under the same roof. Was anything achieved? Sure, Barisan Nasional (BN) passed […]
Politics and imagination
By Deborah LohIOANNIS Gatsiounis is a freelance journalist from New York who has lived in Kuala Lumpur for the last six years. He has written about Malaysia and the region for publications such as Forbes, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune and The Wall Street Journal Asia. Stretching his writer’s muscle, Gatsiounis recently wrote 10 short fictional stories […]
Umno’s glee
By Deborah Loh“Isu kita ialah isu dua tiga kerat pemimpin bermasalah… “Begitu juga dengan isu-isu disekitar Hassan Ali atau Mustafa Ali yang tak habis-habis dengan nak bekerjasama PAS dengan Umno ke arah kerajaan perpaduan atau UG (unity government). “Untuk kali ini, saya dengan kuat merasakan bahawa perlu ada perubahan dalam pemain-pemain penting yang menduduki kerusi kepimpinan PAS diperingkat pusat. Kalau […]
Umno still leads the way
By Deborah LohWill Najib wait for the MIC, MCA, Gerakan and PPP to play catch-up? AFTER the March 2008 general election, when public sentiment against the Barisan Nasional (BN) swirled dark and hopes were bright for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s multicultural politics, Umno was everybody’s favourite punching bag. Perhaps riding on public sentiment that favoured the opposition, […]
Why PR will not take disciplinary action
By Deborah Loh(Bucket of apples by Teresa Kenney; bad apple by Artography / Dreamstime) THEY drive up temperatures within the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and invite criticisms of the fledging alliance to no end, but the likes of Datuk Dr Hasan Ali and Zulkifli Noordin are here to stay. Both men are self-styled defenders of Islam: PAS’s Hasan […]
Whose truth?
By Deborah LohAYM logo (source: Facebook.com) WHERE lies the future of traditional media outlets in the face of blogs and other new media sources? This is not a new discussion, but my thoughts on the subject became more solidified over the past week. At the Alliance of Youth Movements (AYM) 2009 summit in Mexico City which I […]
Lessons from Manohara
By Deborah LohBeware the big bad wolf (Ralf Kraft / Dreamstime) BACK in May and June this year, the story of Indonesian teen model Manohara Odelia Pinot and her escape from her Kelantanese prince husband dominated headlines for its sensationalism and high drama. Who could resist a real-life soap opera with allegations of mental and physical abuse […]
“Forget about race”
By Deborah LohAZRAN Osman-Rani is Air Asia X’s chief executive officer. Because he doesn’t have an office to himself, for the interview with The Nut Graph on 11 Sept 2009, we sit down at a table in a corner of an open-floor office in full view of other staff at their work stations. Azran shares the same […]
Food fights and history lessons
By Deborah LohDoes this nasi lemak with sambal gesek ikan bilis still make the heritage food list, with the sambal babi on the side?(food pics © Lainie Yeoh) AT the end of the year, the Tourism Minister is supposed to have identified certain foods to declare as Malaysian. According to the minister, Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen, […]
