IF Selangor’s Freedom of Information (FOI) bill is made law, how useful will it be in helping the public gain access to information held by the government? The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government tabled the bill for its first and second reading on 14 July 2010, and a select committee will now be collating feedback and […]
Six words
New Year resolutions for Malaysia
By The Nut Graph team(Corrected at 1:30pm, 19 Jan 2010) DO you remember where you were at midnight 10 years ago when we ushered in the new millennium? Remember the Y2K virus scare? Or the millennium party on the Subang Airport runway? Remember when then Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad was still prime minister of Malaysia? Can […]
Menstruation
By The Nut Graph teamCorrected at 8:45pm, 16 Nov 2009 PARTI Keadilan Rakyat’s Seri Andalas assemplyperson, Dr Xavier Jayakumar, has unintentionally landed the Taman Sri Andalas mosque committee in hot soup. Xavier had given a talk in the mosque during a Ramadan function in late August 2009. According to the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), this was a huge […]
Ops Sikap
By The Nut Graph teamTHE Hari Raya holidays have just passed and the results are out. As usual, the big numbers are still there, and are still disturbing. 2009’s Ops Sikap, the 20th one running since its start in 2001, saw 261 road deaths during this Aidilfitri period. On Sunday, 27 Sept, alone there were 23 fatalities on our […]
Merdeka
By The Nut Graph teamTHIS year, Merdeka falls on a Monday. Obligatory flags have been going up on most streetlamp posts and in most public spaces. Yet the number of cars sporting miniature Jalur Gemilang is notably sparse. It seems reasonable to believe that the fanfare surrounding Malaya’s 52nd independence anniversary will be muted. What has happened to the […]
Conversion
By The Nut Graph teamTHE late Malcolm X did it, and he’s a hero. Amina Wadud did it, and people call her a freak. “It” being converting to Islam. And as African Americans, Malcolm and Amina did it in the belief that Islam offered them spiritual liberation and justice. People convert to different religions all the time. Who can […]
Infectious diseases
By The Nut Graph teamTHE A(H1N1) strain of influenza. Meningitis. Leptospirosis. These are among the infectious diseases making headlines in Malaysia of late. They’ve obviously struck fear in the health authorities and the public. Entry points to Malaysia are screened to detect travellers with flu-like symptoms, in an effort to keep the A(H1N1) bug at bay. Health alerts are […]
13 May
By The Nut Graph teamIT’S hard to imagine that it has been 40 years since the event that has so shaped and scarred our lives took place. 13 May 1969 is, to borrow from President Franklin D Roosevelt, a date that will live on in infamy, for Malaysians at least. The riots in Kuala Lumpur and the bloody aftermath […]
Chua Soi Lek
By The Nut Graph teamWE’RE starting a new section today. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway‘s genius, the Six Words On… section challenges readers to give us their comments about a current issue, contemporary personality or significant event in just six words. The idea behind the section is to get readers engaged in an issue that The Nut Graph identifies, while […]