Since I'm Malaysian (and live in Malaysia), this commentary by Jeffrey Collins at Joyful Christian drew my attention. Our leaders have always seemed to be a wee bit suspicious of "the West". Perhaps that stems from memories of being a...
I just thought to add this. Remember my impossible assignment? Well, I can talk about it now because the story was printed yesterday! A Different Sort Of Hari Raya Hari Raya falls today (Friday), marking the end of the Muslim...
I'm thinking about cultural differences today. A comment I left on Theophany drew another visitor's fire. Theo said he'd gotten his two children (aged 13 and 15) cell phones for Christmas. I said I wish I'd had a dad like...
Daredevil, the movie based on Marvel's comic character, has been banned in Malaysia. The ban was announced on Feb 11. (Sorry it took me so long to put this up here!) Censorship Board bans Daredevil over ‘unhealthy elements’The [National Film...
I haven't written anything at all about Iraq and the impending war, largely because every other blogger is writing about it - much better than I ever could, too - and I've had nothing constructive to contribute. Here's what's happening...
A friend alerted me to this article: 35 books, detrimental to public peace, banned One of the books that the Home Ministry has deemed so detrimental to public peace is the Iban translation of the Bible, Bup Kudus, published by...
As I wrote on Apr 9, the Iban translation of the Bible (Bup Kudus) has been banned by the Home Ministry. Acting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi later said that the Bible "contained certain words which the Government...
After acting tour guide for a day, I've discovered that I know much more and much less about the city (and Malaysia) than I thought I knew. On Sunday, the blog world collided with my "real world"... well, not really...
You know, I don't think of myself as a very patriotic person. For example, I'm not the type to get very emotional about Dr Mahathir retiring as Prime Minister. (He left office on Friday.) But I was just thinking: he...
Clarence asked me about Malaysian food. His question reminded me of something an American friend once said to me: "I never realised that you'd eat Chinese food all the time because you're Chinese!" LOL Growing up, the number one thing...
Have you heard the story about the guy who called up Pizza Hut? They asked for his national ID number, and when he supplied it, they called up his "file", then recited his address to him. Next they discouraged him...
Remember the MyKad? The smartcard in the scary story? Well, now we're going to start using it in lieu of passports: "The use of MyKad for Malaysians travelling to Brunei has already been agreed to and will start next month,"...
Sometimes I have a hard time figuring people out. Quite a few US bloggers have written about the tendency to "de-Christianise" Christmas by saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". I can't understand that. What's the big deal with saying...
It's Chinese New Year, and my parents are in town. The Chinese traditionally follow a 12-month lunar calendar, which means I have two birthdays, my Chinese one and my "Western" one. (Not that I know when my Chinese one is......
The word's out: we're ...
It's official. There is a New Trend. Over the past few weeks I've had innumerable search engine hits for the words "unhealthy Malaysian food". Now, I have no clue what this is all about. Why the sudden obsession about the...
Parliament was dissolved yesterday. State and federal elections will be held simultaneously on March 21. As a general rule, I'm terribly apathetic about politics. When I was looking for a job, a newspaper company I applied to asked me to...
Here's something to think about: PAS (the opposition Islamic party) has maintained that voters who back the party will have a passage to heaven while those who reject it will go to hell, its spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Aziz Nik...
General Election later today (it's about 2:30am now). Somebody sent this email through my website:Undi BA. Hapuskan Barisan Korupsional. BA janji membuka kes rasuah Ling Liong Sik, Samy Velu, Rafidah, Mirzan Mahatir. Kami mahu Ikan Jerung bukan ikan belis berumur...
"At least we still have the Opposition to provide a check and balance," a friend said. "What check and balance? Only 16 Opposition MPs compared to 195 Barisan Nasional (National Front) MPs! How can 16 people provide an effective check...
I recently saw Puteri Gunung Ledang (The Princess of Mount Ophir), a locally-produced movie with the much-touted budget of $15 million*. It's the most expensive movie ever made in Malaysia, based on the local legend of -- surprise, surprise --...
Word has it that someone (or several someones) is going around Yahoo! Messenger telling people to vote for Andrew Tan (pic) in the Malaysian Idol contest because he is a pastor's son. Further research has revealed that Andrew is...
I'm getting too old for all this excitement. You see, last night was the Malaysian Idol finals, the one where results would be announced. I very badly wanted Jac (pic) to win coz I think she totally can sing. Her...
Idlan posted this BBC article about Malaysian drivers. It made me smile, remembering how Dr Mahathir, our beloved former prime minister, used to rail at the "Western media" for misrepresenting Malaysia & Malaysians in general. ...many Malaysians pay little attention...
When I got back home at around 9pm last night and my housemate's sister said there had been an earthquake and tsunami in Penang, I didn't believe her. I thought she was trying to pull a fast one on me...
The government is to cancel all New Year celebrations. Instead, the Prime Minister is urging citizens to pray for the victims & their families....
I read on Mark La Roi's blog that two Americans were arrested in Putrajaya (Malaysia's administrative capital) on Apr 25, for allegedly distributing Christian literature. [Click for more] The arrest was apparently reported in one of our local papers too...
Forget about sexual education in schools; now even articles and Q&A columns on sex are not allowed in the print media. This means virtually every women's magazine in Malaysia is screwed. In an article on page 8 of The Star...
Once upon a time, a group of bloggers got together and began chatting over MSN Messenger. Malaysia's Independence Day was fast approaching, and in a fit of patriotism, insanity, mischief and jiak bar bo kang jo-ness (Hokkien for "stomach already...
Recently, Charis, one of my readers, asked why I don't want to emigrate and won't consider emigrating, even for lurve. "People think I'm crazy when I tell them I'm thinking of coming back. Reminds me of when I was in...
I fully understand now why BPbites described drafting a post in Malay as "painful". "It's like I'd done a body roll across a bed of red-hot nails, and this is just after a three-line paragraph," he said. I echo his...
Our Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, passed away early this morning after a four-year battle with cancer."He will always phone when he is away and we always tell each other we love each other.'' -- quote from a...
A Malaysian English daily has received a "show-cause letter" from the Internal Security Ministry. The ministry wants to know why it should not take action against the paper for publishing a certain comic strip on Monday. Does the strip feature...
I'm feeling so darned tired and it's only 9:25pm. For some reason my lower back has been aching for the past few days and this week I've had several bouts of mild diarrhoea... dunno what's happening. Went for the public...
The Home Affairs Ministry banned the movie Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist) because the timing of its screening was inappropriate due to current events and public sentiment. Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said he made the decision to...
Somebody asked me today, "How come you speak like a Malaysian but you don't write like a Malaysian?" Gee, I dunno. Maybe coz Manglish (Malaysian English), with its grammatical errors and all, looks & sounds so wrong when written down?...
When I tell people I want to teach English, a lot of times I hear, "You should think about going to China! There is a great demand for English teachers there!" It makes me wonder why we always look elsewhere...
Somebody quoted a Christian leader as having said recently that the population of Christians in the country is growing and that lives are being transformed. My question: Is it true that lives are being transformed or are they being sucked...
There are all kinds of unsettling things about this video. But to me, one of the most unsettling was seeling the Muslim groups protesting and carrying banners saying, "Don't disturb our religion". Yet they don't realise that they're disturbing other...
I'm definitely growing old. I was going to write about two things today and now I can only remember one. But as Mom likes to say, it'll come back to me and if it doesn't, that means it wasn't important,...
It's that time of the year. Student intakes for public university. People being offered courses very different from the ones they hoped for. Gee, that sounds slightly familiar. Seven years after graduating with a law degree that's gathering dust, I...
So. Our Internal Security Ministry has ordered all mainstream media not to publish anything relating to whether our country is or is not an Islamic state. How's that for freedom of speech and expression? They are afraid that any discussion...
Have you heard the latest? It's now a crime to decorate a cake with the design of the country's flag. Why? Because you end up cutting the cake, eating it, digesting it, and then expelling it. How dare you desecrate...
Does anybody else want to know why we spent RM108mil building a low-cost carrier terminal that was "never meant to be a permanent terminal from day one"? Because I do. Because, even though I'm currently not within the taxable income...
I finally, finally listened to the Negaraku music video that everybody has been talking about, and then I discovered I can't understand it, because he sang so fast and I don't read Chinese! The Internet always has the answer. I...
I had a lovely birthday. But today I opened the newspaper and got pissed off. "Tunku ensured Malay predominance," screamed the headline. After 50 years of independence (okay, maybe 44), what is all this nonsense about Malay predominance? Why does...
I was considering joining the march to the King's palace today, organised by the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih). The plan is to march to the King's palace to hand over a memorandum from the citizens calling for...
The more I read about yesterday's march, the more I am becoming incensed at the authorities. And our local media. Try this entry out for size. Local media reported 4,000 marchers. BBC, quoting a police source, estimated 10,000 to 30,000...
Malaysians went to the polls today and the votes are being counted even as I type. In the run-up to elections, Barisan National (the ruling coalition) had ads on TV, radio, in the papers, and I tell you, every time...
OMG so funny... pay attention to the accents. lol **Notes: "Pak Lah" is the nickname we give to our Prime Minister... like George W. Bush is called "Dubya" "May 13th" is a reference to the riots after the 1969 elections...
You know those gyms that offer 7-day free trials? The Icy Queen Goddess recently joined a gym, and it happened to be one of those gyms, and she gave them my name, so I could get the free trial. This...
The Icy Queen Goddess pointed me to this cute, cute video (very short one, less than a minute long): I was amazed! The kid is speaking proper English! In full, complete sentences! A Malaysian Chinese kid would've said: "Ow! Di-di...
As of midnight tonight, petrol is going up by 40.6% to RM2.70 per litre. Electricity tariffs are also going up by 18% (home users) and 26% (business users). [Source: Star Online] The cost of living is going up like crazy...
According to a Bernama report, petrol prices might rise to RM3.15 per litre by the end of this month because global prices of crude oil continue to rise. The Second Minister of Finance was quoted as saying that if the...