I know I am going against the grain of government thinking in asking Parliament to give serious attention to blogs by Malaysians, especially when the Internal Security Ministry has just warned the mainstream newspapers in the country against quoting and publishing “anti-government articles” from online portals and blogs.
The clarification by the Internal Security Ministry’s […]

I am very concerned that in Paragraph 15 of the Royal Address, the government regards “excellence” as a goal to be achieved in 13 years’ time in 2020, when it should have been a constant and unbroken standard of both public and private service from Independence half-a-century ago.
The most meaningful way for the nation […]

I have quoted extensively because the brain drain in the past four decades of over a million talented, creative and enterprising people — although there are those who would say it is double this figure — must be regarded as a national disaster and not just a personal or family tragedy.
The world has moved into […]

Po Kuan’s blog also evoked responses about real life trials and tribulations such as the posting by Taja Enjok:
I know Mr. A for the past 9 years. He was a clerk and his wife is a general worker. They have 2 sons. It was around that time their eldest son failed to make it into […]

The second comment, by firstMalaysian:
My son left the country to pursue his Bachelors degree in BioMedical Engineering and is currently doing his PhD in a foreign land, without any scholarship or any recognition from his own homeland. He was given every assistance and opportunity from a foreign university to pursue his PhD and he is […]

I fully agree with the Royal Address that national unity is the most important issue for our country. Whether the country has succeeded in forging greater unity among the diverse races, languages, religions and cultures in Malaysia should in fact be the primary yardstick in the assessment of the success or failure of […]

I rise to express appreciation of the Yang di Pertuan Agong for his maiden Royal Address to the joint session of both Houses of Parliament yesterday.
In keeping with the conventions of the Malaysian constitution and constitutional monarchy, the Royal Address is not the personal speech of the Yang di Pertuan Agong but the policy presentation […]

The Sun’s front page headlined it: “On/off/on/off — INTEGRITY PANEL SHIES AWAY FROM GRAFT INQUIRY” while Malaysiakini’s heading for its report yesterday was “Committee cancels ‘ACA hearing’ again” with the following story:
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity today voted to call off a hearing involving Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) director-general Zulkipli Mat Noor […]

RM9 BIL DOUBLE-TRACKING PROJECT — PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH
Z. IBRAHIM
Klang
I refer to the report stating that the Government now intends to go ahead with the RM9 billion double-track electrified railway which it earlier shelved 3 years ago. That this project is being revived so close to the elections only seems to increase rumors that […]

Hi Kit Siang
I’m not sure if you’ll be reading this, or even why exactly I’m writing to you; but like other times after reading about the happenings in Malaysia through your blog, I am saddened and moved from deep within.
Allow me to introduce myself. I was born in Johor, in 1983 - making me […]

Stop glorifying Mat Rempits!
ILLUMINATIONS
Azly Rahman
The (North Pole Free Fall) expedition is among the latest controversial moves by Umno to engage youths, especially mat rempit, in a series of baffling activities… . This includes a 50,000-strong carnival gathering which never took off, a road trip tainted by sex and booze allegations and a proposed programme to […]

Po Kuan blogs a heart-rending story in the continuing creation of a Malaysian diaspora which has happened to more than a million Malaysians in the past four decades — whether to uproot and migrate overseas and later to take up foreign citizenship.
Although human migration is a common phenomenon in human history and prehistory, the […]

A final-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University of Malaya complained that a workshop purportedly to impart soft skills was actually a direct-sales commercial programme.
This is the email:
I’m a final year student from Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Unversity of Malaya. I had a disappointment and felt been […]

Every March, the Yang di Pertuan Agong will officially launch Parliament with a Royal Address which spells out the government’s programme for the new year.
The Royal Address is not the personal speech of the Yang di Pertuan Agong but the policy presentation of the government-of-the-day for the next 12 months.
The official opening of the […]

Living in Kasar Times
by Farish A. Noor
Its quite rare for a talcum-powdered, linen-clad bloke like me to get angry in public, and so I write this piece with a hint of embarrassment to begin with. During one of my antique hunts around Central Market recently, I experienced something […]