ENTERING politics was just a matter of time for Malaysia’s youngest member of Parliament (MP), Teo Nie Ching. As her parents, sister and brother-in-law are all DAP members, discussions on political developments were common in the Teo household. Teo recalls how she was first invited to stand for elections as an MP. “It was just […]
family
The long wait to be Malaysian: The foreign spouse experience
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 […]
Resisting the force-fitters
Rafidah Abdullah (all pics courtesy of Rafidah Abdullah) AFTER graduating from University of Malaya with a Bachelor of Laws degree, Rafidah Abdullah entered the entertainment field as one of the original presenters of 3R, an infotainment programme for young women. She began writing scripts for 3R and went on to write for other television programmes […]
Confessions of a “Melayu celup”
DATUK Zahim Albakri, 47, has had a brilliant end to 2009. He co-directed Cuci the Musical, which played from 23 Oct to 8 Nov at Istana Budaya, to much critical and commercial acclaim. Zahim also executive produced Jit Murad’s successful One Load of Bull Jit show at PJ Live Arts Theatre from 24 to 29 […]
Dismantling divisive barriers
DATUK Karam Chand Vohrah, better known as KC Vohrah, almost didn’t study law. “I was supposed to have been a medical student,” the respected former Court of Appeal judge says. “I won an award to study medicine in India but when I arrived there, I was rejected because I had problems with one eye. They […]
“That means you’re Chinese”
AT five foot five, Terry Ong says he has never been made to feel insecure about his height as much as he has been made to feel insecure about a more fundamental and unalterable aspect: his own heritage. Ong, 29, is an emcee and voiceover talent. But he is also known because he is a […]
Same country, different place
SINGER-songwriter Mia Palencia echoes the sentiments of other artistes from Sabah and Sarawak who recognise the disparities between East Malaysia and the peninsula. The 25-year-old recording artiste, whose first solo album Finding My Way was released in April 2008, writes in her Facebook profile on 11 Sept 2009: “[…As] my awareness and understanding of the […]
Checking George Washington’s nose
AS a child, Animah Kosai used to tell strangers she was from Siberia. They would pat her on the head, call her cute and ask her where she was from because of the light skin she inherited from her English mother. “I’d talk about this wonderful story about how my father was in Japan, and […]
Support centre to overcome family problems
PENANG, 20 April 2009: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will set up a Family Support Centre in Selayang, Selangor to help overcome family-related problems in that area. Its deputy minister, Senator Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, said the centre was expected to be operational this June and it was a pioneering project which […]
The Muharram dilemma
The Sultan Ahmed mosque in Istanbul (© Travis Reitter. Source: wikipedia.org) MY mother used to tell us children that she was born on Awal Muharram, the Muslim New Year. This was a matter of trivial interest to us because we think of her birthday as falling on 12 July. That date happened to fall on […]
