ARE you Malay first? Or Malaysian first? But is the question really about which should come first? Why does it seem to matter so much? And which of the two labels — one about race and the other about citizenship — is more profoundly important to us as Malaysian citizens?
equality
What about keeping promises?
Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone But when she got there The cupboard was bare So her poor little doggie had none – Old nursery rhyme The Women’s Candidacy Initiative (WCI) notes that each time elections come around, whether it is parliamentary, state or by-elections, parties fielding […]
A curious BN government
All illustrations of Alice in Wonderland characters by Peter Newell, 1890(source: public domain | Wiki Commons) NO doubt about it. Some days, I think I’m Alice. In Wonderland. Because reading the news on some days, I just want to blurt out, “Curiouser and curiouser!” The latest news that made me feel like Alice was reported […]
Winning over women
Women’s rights logo (Public domain) ACCORDING to the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG), women in Malaysia have made little progress over the past 25 years. In a briefing for parliamentarians last week on 24 March, JAG listed out the good, the bad and the ugly that affect women. JAG’s research into the issues […]
“We were Malaysians first”
“DREAM the undreamable, believe the impossible, and never take no for an answer.” AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes certainly lives by his company’s creed. Under his leadership, AirAsia and Air Asia X have just won the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation award, beating airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Not […]
The confident Malay
Corrected on 17 Nov 2009 at 11.30am DESPITE stepping down in 2008 as executive director of Sisters in Islam (SIS) which she co-founded and led for two decades, Zainah Anwar has not retired from her commitment to women’s rights and justice. Currently project director of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice for Muslim […]
The role of intra-faith dialogue
We need more intra-faith dialogue (© arte_ram / sxc.hu) DISCUSSIONS on religious issues, or a lack thereof, are increasingly defining public policy and society in Malaysia. A few key words are enough to jog memories — the cow-head protest, the whipping sentence on Muslims for drinking alcohol, Christians and the word “Allah”, concert banning, and […]
“Islamic focus on punishment misguided”
PERTH, 2 Nov 2009: The focus on punishment of personal sins in Islam is misguided, a professor of Islamic Studies said. SaeedProfessor Abdullah Saeed was partly referring to calls from certain Muslim groups to uphold the caning sentence on Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno in Malaysia for consuming alcohol. Saeed is currently the Sultan of Oman […]
“Forget about race”
AZRAN 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 […]
The four faces of 1Malaysia
(Mooncake image by Mingwei / Dreamstime) DEPENDING on how you look at it, this article on national independence is either two weeks too late or 50 weeks too early. The two weeks after Malaysia Day on 16 Sept 2009, coupled with the Hari Raya mood, seemed peaceful and even boring by Malaysian standards. That is, […]
