Gripevine

The suspect who allegedly hacked a soldier to death on a London street last week, apologised to women who had witnessed the attack and then added " but in our lands our women have to see the same." That statement struck me as rather ironic. I mean what era is this? Several minutes later I came across an AFP report of a brave women who had actually engaged the man who was holding a bloody meat cleaver in his hand.  Naturally this made his earlier statement appear even more ironic. Of all the people at the scene, it was Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a former scout leader who stepped forward without fear of injury to herself. She has children, all the more reason to stay safe. But she stepped forward selflessly.  Today I came across this article that echoes my thoughts perfectly The Independent The bravery of women shames men by Janet Street-Porter This has been a week when a few brave women stood up and the rest of us watched in awe. The horrific events...

Tunku Abdul Rahman: "Bapa Kemerdekaan" Tun Abdul Razak: "Bapa Pembangunan" Tun Hussein Onn: "Bapa Perpaduan" or as some say "Bapa Maintain/ Bapa Neutral". Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad: "Bapa Pemodenan". Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: "Bapa Batik" I don't know if anyone of you have given any thought to what "Bapa" Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak would be at the end of his premiership. Definitely not "Bapa Altantuya" yes.....? "Bapa 1Malaysia" perhaps? Well that might have been so, if he did not literally rip his shirt open Superman style on the night of May 5 and reveal to the nation what a racist he truly is. He coined the term 'Chinese tsunami' and blamed it on Barisan Nasional's poor showing at the polls. Najib might conveniently forget this at some point in the future. But the enlightened electorate never will. In fact future generations to come will know of this to...

 D-day is upon us. The day we have been waiting years for. At one point, we even began to wonder when exactly it would be! As Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak dallied and delayed calling for the dissolution of Parliament. In fact many of us thought it would have been in 2012. Ah......but Najib is full of surprises. He does not want to go down in history as another Pak Lah......whose unofficial slogan is "Tidur lar.." So he smacked his pinky lips and schemed. He had to make the rakyat go all gushy and warm. How? $$$$$.......!!!! So he unleashed upon the nation the 'Politics of Goodies' He became our all year round father Christmas. Now stop for a minute and imagine Najib as Kris Kringle. Cannot? Haram....? OK never mind. Basically Najib and his gang of strategist I imagine, left no sector of society out in their quest to dole out the goodies and secure the votes. Even the ones who didn't need it. Are Petronas staff poor? Will that one RM1,...

Most of us law abiding citizens go through life never imagining that we might get entangled with the long arm of the law. And very likely we won't. But there are some who are not so fortunate. Whether one is a man, woman or child, the threat of being a victim of some crime hangs over our heads like the Sword of Damocles. It can happen to anyone. Some survive it, some are scarred for life, some perish and there are a few who end up with blood on their hands. This post is about them - those who kill in self defence and end up having to face the full weight of the legal system for a crime they never intended to commit in the first place. It is the kind of experience that can change one's whole life. How kind is the law to those who act in self defence? Kalaichelvi's Story On Jan 7, 2010, a man broke into the home of housewife S.Kalaichelvi, 24, in the early hours of the morning and tried to rape her. To fend him off, she threw chili powder into his eyes, when ...

 Gandhi once said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. If that is so, we are a terrible nation indeed! More so because we are prosperous, educated, peaceful and not prone to natural disasters. So what is our excuse for such a shoddy record when it comes to animal welfare?   The general notion seems to be that one has to be 'evolved' to a certain degree to care about animal rights. To this I say that one does not need education or a highly developed intellect to have compassion towards animals. In fact I have come across many highly-educated people who keep their domestic pets in inhumane conditions. They don't think it is cruel, an animal is seen as a life form beneath them to be treated as they like. There are many stories of white collar professionals who have subjected their domestic pets to extreme cruelty. Several days ago an animal rescue group highlighted the plight of ...

Navratri (nav - ratri) or nine nights of the Goddess starts today and ends next Wednesday on Oct 24. Generally Navratri is seen as a festival of women, where Hindu women will flock to temples attired in their finest clothes. From what I have been told, Navratri is considered very important to married Hindu women, it is the time of the year (though not the only time of the year) when they will pray for the well being of their families, the longevity of their husbands, the welfare of their children, good fortune, prosperity etc. As for unmarried women, they will pray to the Goddess for a fine husband. Once they are married, because I doubt the Goddess would disappoint her devotees, they will pray for all the things listed in the paragraph above, as such the happy circle of life will continue. I would like to humbly say that I am no expert on Hinduism, but I do voraciously read everything that I can lay my hands on, offline and online. Based on what I have read thus far, it ...

I'm a TEETOTALER, those who know me from way back in the mid 90s to the earlier years of the 00s will know that this was not always the case. Way back then, especially as a young reporter whose office was conveniently located in Bangsar (everybody's favourite watering hole), I spent many 'happy hours' trawling the many interesting joints located along Telawi1 and Telawi2. My students days in Australia were also quite a delight, alcohol was so......cheap! We Malaysian students were constantly gushing about this. So as you can see, the 'culture of drinking' is not one that is foreign to me. Being the proverbial observer that I am, and also because I was always "never that high", there were many things that I observed about human nature in those dimly-lit smoked filled joints where glasses were raised literally every second of an hour. I'm not gonna start by saying that intoxication does strange things to people, because that's something...