GROWING up watching a variety of films, it never occurred to Saw Teong Hin that it might be strange for a Chinese Malaysian like himself to direct Malay films. “I never really thought about it until people started asking me again and again: ‘Why’s a Chinese [Malaysian] like you doing Malay films?’ But why not?” […]
Gan Pei Ling
A short-lived joy in Baram, Sarawak
By Gan Pei Ling
IN March 2010, indigenous peoples from Long Teran Kanan, Baram in Sarawak were overjoyed when they won a 13-year legal battle against IOI Pelita Plantation. The Miri High Court recognised the Kayan and Kenyah communities’ native customary rights over the disputed land. However, their joy was short-lived. IOI Pelita Plantation filed an appeal against the […]
Talking about living sustainably
By Gan Pei Ling
TITLED Creativity and Innovation in Eco-friendly Living, The Nut Graph‘s fourth Found in Conversation forum discussed a variety of issues including consumerism, going organic, changing culture, and sustainability. The panelists were Wild Asia advisor Toh Su Mei, Justlife Shop chief executive officer Callie Tai and Green Drinks Kuala Lumpur initiator and consultant Steve McCoy. Held […]
Protecting the sea turtles
By Gan Pei Ling
AN isolated beach northeast of Redang Island, Chagar Hutang, is a nesting beach for two out of the four sea turtle species found in Malaysia — green and hawksbill turtles. A few hundred of them come ashore to nest annually. Sea turtles often travel thousands of kilometres from their feeding grounds back to the beach […]
Threatening the turtles
As If Earth Matters by Gan Pei Ling
WHEN a friend said he wanted a photo of himself riding on a sea turtle’s back, it made me flinch. And yet, I doubt I would have winced had I not heard stories about how divers and snorkelers have disturbed and distressed turtles in the sea. If not for my marine-biologist friends, I probably would […]
Tang Ah Chai: Living through white terror
By Gan Pei Ling
TANG Ah Chai is a public intellectual and political commentator in the Chinese Malaysian community. Over the past few decades, the former deputy director of the Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies has been actively involved in research relating to Chinese Malaysian history. He has written and edited Mandarin books on Yap Ah Loy, the founder […]
Student activism: The struggle continues
By Gan Pei Ling
(Corrected at 6:15pm, 4 Sept 2010) THE student movement in Malaysia was once vibrant, independent and autonomous. “Mahasiswa jurubicara rakyat” was the students’ motto in the 1960s. However, the government enacted the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) in 1971 to restrict students’ freedom and their rising influence. Thereafter, the student movement suffered a decline. […]
Suhakam chief: “We’re an independent entity”
By Gan Pei Ling
TAN Sri Hasmy Agam was appointed the new Suhakam chief in June 2010. Previously, he was executive chairperson of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR), and secretary-general of the United Nations Association of Malaysia. “I’m conscious of the fact that I’m no longer a civil servant. Now that I’m the chair[person] of Suhakam, […]
Lessons from The Story of Stuff
As If Earth Matters by Gan Pei Ling
HAVE you ever wondered where all your stuff comes from, and where they end up after you throw them out? I do, and environmentalist Annie Leonard does, too. That was the reason she created The Story of Stuff. The video became an online hit soon after its December 2007 release. In 2009, The New York […]
Student Power lecture repeatedly banned on campus
By Gan Pei Ling
PETALING JAYA, 13 Aug 2010: Artist, filmmaker and historian Fahmi Reza has consistently been barred from presenting his Student Power lecture at Universiti Malaya (UM) since October 2009. All three attempts of Fahmi’s attempts to present his historical findings in UM about the student movement have been thwarted by the university administration. Fahmi was first […]
