IT so happened that this Ramadan I had to take an 18-hour flight to Vancouver to attend the wedding of a close friend’s only daughter. I wouldn’t normally choose to travel during Ramadan but it was a rare opportunity to see my friend’s happiness as she saw her daughter married off. I did tell a […]
ventings
Getting emotional about Palestine
ON whichever side we may be on, it seems almost impossible not to be emotional about the Palestinian issue. The sources of these emotions may vary, from identification either with the Palestinian or Israeli side, or simply from the sheer frustration at the unjustness of the situation. What’s clear is that amidst the emotion, there is a lot of fuzziness about the real issues, and much inconsistency on principles.
How 3R changed Malaysian TV
SOMETIMES the best ideas start with simple conversations. I was worried about the numbers of women becoming infected with HIV and was trying to think of a way to educate them about the virus. I was also conscious that education alone was not enough; women who became infected were invariably women who had no rights […]
Looking back, moving forward
(© Gaspirtz / Wiki Commons) IF I could, I would look up what all those astrologers said about 2009 at the beginning of the year to see if what they predicted was correct. If I recall correctly, all their predictions were of gloom and doom. And for once, I think they got it right: 2009 […]
Malaysian musicals rock
WHATEVER anyone wants to say about the Malaysian theatre scene, when it comes to musical theatre, I think we are getting somewhere. PGL the Musical promotional picture (source: pglthemusical.com.my) I have seen three different musicals at Istana Budaya — P Ramlee the Musical, Puteri Gunung Ledang (PGL) the Musical and lately, Cuci the Musical — […]
Sex and the constitution
(Source: nassaulibrary.org) IN mid-August 2009, the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) took place. Amid discussions on medical, biological, funding and governance issues, there was a very healthy track packed with much debate — as well as much angst — about human rights issues. The idea that human rights is […]
The epidemic of conspiracy theories
THERE are epidemics. And then there are conspiracy theories about epidemics, which become endemic in themselves. There has long been a conspiracy theory that HIV is a plot by white people to annihilate black people. This, apparently, is the reason why AIDS is so endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and in other black-majority countries such as […]
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 […]
Sexism in politics
IN October, I had posted on my blog my thoughts on Datuk Chamil Wariya’s despicable short story based on a character very similar to DAP Member of Parliament (MP) for Seputeh, Teresa Kok. I had wondered aloud whether there was a sexist element to recent incidents involving opposition MPs. Most of my commenters opined that […]
