I haven’t written in a while. I blame it on exams, assignments, classes and, of course, work. There were many things to write about over the last few months, but none moved me enough to make me write… well, until today. It all started with my short trip to McDonald’s for breakfast. Not to promote the already popular franchise, but I sometimes dream of having their meals for breakfast, and last night was one of those nights. So...

I was not brought up with a silver spoon. My siblings and I went to public schools, did not carry handphones, laptops, Gameboys or any other fancy gadgets to school ― simply because we didn’t have them. Be that as it may, we had fun growing up. The sense of family and the importance of values were inculcated in us from young. I was always reminded of other less fortunate individuals around me, and how I should be thankful and count my...

I WAS brought up in a multi-racial family. But I didn’t understand the concept of race until I started school. Some smart people would point out that I have a Chinese mother and a Malay father but for better or for worse, I was blind to such observations. My parents used to leave me with my maternal grandparents when they went to work and even let me spend the night with them sometimes. My grandparents would then take me on their daily...

Janji ditepati. Only politicians can turn something innocuous into something wrong. How else do you explain this phrase becoming so unpopular? An act of desperation, perhaps? First and foremost, you don’t have to call it a promise. You are worth your word, and rescind it at your own risk. You were elected as a servant to the rakyat, and as our servants, we expect you to do as you are told Just so that we are clear, we are after all your...

PEMANDU said on July 10 that Malaysia’s crime index fell by 10.1 per cent between January and May this year. Well, that was what PEMANDU said. Just last week, the newspapers reported that a businessman became the latest victim of a robbery in a shopping mall car park in Petaling Jaya. Earlier this month, a woman was getting into her car at a hypermarket when a man slashed her left arm and neck. Somewhere towards the end of June, another...

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This is about a video someone forwarded me a few days ago. A disillusioned father auctioning off his son, to kill other people by blowing himself up. I think the word devil is more apt than father. Every life is sacred, and is not ours to give or take. Which is why most religion view suicide and murder as a great sin. But to profit, and be worshipped from such an act has brought the whole nonsense to a new low. Just to be clear,...

The home minister must be proud of himself for successfully making this country home to so many foreigners. The Nigerians, Sudanese, Somalians, Iranians are going about their business like they would in their country. Not a day goes by without us seeing one of them in the news. The Star on July 3, 2012 reported about a Nigerian drug mule who was arrested at the LCCT with 400 grammes of syabu capsules with a street value of RM98,000. And in...

We need more people manning our 999 emergency lines. There was an elderly women with a heart attack this morning. I called 999 for an ambulance a few times without any answer. Not wanting to wait any longer than what felt like an eternity, some passerby decided to drive her to the hospital. I called 999 at 630 am. If they cannot answer my calls at 630 am, then I pray nobody calls them during peak hours in the evening and afternoon. The...

Some say DAP is an ally of the PAP. Even if it is true, so what? Yes, I am aware that PAP championed Malaysian Malaysia back in the 1960s, and was blamed for Singapore’s expulsion from the Federation of Malaysia. I also understand the politically correct term now is not Malaysian Malaysia, but instead a totally different, not straightforward meaning, not fully embraced concept of 1 Malaysia. I am also very well aware that PAP led a...

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Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd is a great politician. He is one of the very few I respect and admire. I revere him as a statesman, and hold him in a different light than other politicians I consider as clowns. But like all great politicians, he has a way with words. His words can make absolute sense even when they are not always true. For instance he is right about how the government tends to make popular decisions when they are weak, and are better...

Dear Indonesians, I write to you as a Malaysian citizen who is appalled at the latest Jalur Gemilang burning ceremony in Jakarta. I sincerely hope that this open letter reaches you wherever you may be, and translated into languages that you can read and understand. Over the last few years, Malaysians have watched in horror at how you treated our Jalur Gemilang and our embassy staff. We have witnessed the throwing of faeces, bricks, rocks...

I have always been proud of Malaysia Airlines. I refused to fly with other airlines back home during my student days in Ireland. It was the indescribable pride of flying a Malaysian brand that is truly world class, an icon that belongs to all Malaysians and by that extension (no matter how distant) ‘mine’. It represents our aspiration, dream and hope which is nothing short of an ambassador to this great nation wherever it...

What do you think of a kiss in a PG18 movie? No, this is not a PG18 article so please don’t shoo the kids away (or feel disappointed). Before you let your imagination run wild, a PG18 kiss is defined as the touching of lips and inevitably at times the exchanging of saliva between two consenting, fully-clothed adults. It could be a French, English, American, Albanian and even a Malaysian kiss in the absence of stripping of clothes,...