YOU know the old adage/cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Here’s a prime example. In June, I joined a touring group of theatre performers from Perth, Australia to the Temple of Fine Arts in Johor Baru (JB), where we put on a show. Having been to the Temple of Fine Arts in Kuala […]
Zedeck Siew
The vegetable basket baby
By Zedeck SiewVISUAL artist Wong Hoy Cheong is probably Malaysia’s most internationally-renowned modern cultural export. While a fixture on the biennial — or repeating art exhibitions — circuit, he has nevertheless continued to make work deeply engaged with the Malaysian context. Take his Vitrine of Contemporary Events, for example. Made in 1999, post-Reformasi, the work is an illuminated […]
The truth is out there!
By Zedeck SiewEditor’s note: On 23 Aug 2009, a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Nuri that was en route from Sungai Besi Airbase to Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a routine flight crashed in an oil palm plantation in Sepang. There were no survivors, and military authorities have insisted that recovered remains were “too damaged for identification”. […]
Penan task force report “not available”
By Zedeck SiewPenan child (all pics courtesy of Sofiyah Israa / Flickr) PETALING JAYA, 21 Aug 2009: Despite Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil’s pledge, the Penan task force report is still not available, not even to “interested parties” visiting her ministry. Attempts by The Nut Graph yesterday — following the minister’s promise […]
The homophobic media
By Zedeck SiewFOR the past week or so, a Bernama news article entitled Unconventional Methods To Prevent Influenza has been making its rounds on the internet. The reason? It quotes one Dr V M Palaniappan as claiming that masturbation and “homosexual activities” increase the likelihood of swine flu infection. Apparently, such acts cause the body to develop […]
Use the internet wisely!
By Zedeck SiewTHE recently unveiled website of Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor was designed to gift Malaysians with the opportunity to get to know our dear first lady better: “As a wife, I always accompany the Prime Minister to official functions … We feel that it is a very good idea so that people will be able […]
Supporting detention without trial
By Zedeck Siew“Don’t just look to our country only. See our neighbours or other countries. They too have laws more or less like ours or more stricter [sic].” Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, commenting on the need to retain the Internal Security Act (ISA), to “ensure economic and political stability”. He suggested that the Act […]
Clamping down on students
By Zedeck SiewSPEAKING at the Muslim Students Leadership Convention on 26 July 2009, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he wanted “to see student leaders with dynamic and healthy minds in terms of airing views and opinions”. “I just hope that you can uphold the principle of intellectual honesty in assessing and scrutinising certain issues which […]
Overcoming multicultural kan cheong
By Zedeck SiewTHE somewhat otherworldly 42-year-old performer Lee Swee Keong is perhaps best known for his white-faced and loin-clothed interpretations of Butoh, a Japanese dance form developed in the 1960s. Created by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in 1959, this vocabulary of movement, which typically involves mischievous or grotesque imagery, was intended to question and subvert more […]
Gerakan’s protest against the ISA
By Zedeck Siew“Gerakan Youth is of the opinion that struggles of organisations such as Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) should be considered seriously for the sake of justice and recognition of human rights principles enshrined in the federal constitution.” ANDY Yong, Gerakan Youth’s legal, public complaints and social welfare bureau chief, declaring the party youth wing’s interest in […]
